Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: David Houck on November 13, 2007, 08:32:36 PM
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Here's Trip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6cDv_Cwgd0)!
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I finally got around to plugging some headphones into my laptop. Here's Mark King (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxeABmHjSak).
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the mark king solo was cool, but what does he have on his thumb ?
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Gaffer tape!
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At the end of his gigs he throws it into the audience in much the same way as guitarists do with picks. One souvenir i can do without methinks ;-)
graeme
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oi jacko - don't knock the great white hope..how many white guys could play that funky in the 80's(excluding jaco)
Jeeze..that was some bass Trip was playing..I get connnnfused with only four strings!!!
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I wasn't knocking MK. Au contraire, I've always been a huge level42 fan and was really pleased when they came to Perth last November. I just don't think a sweaty lump of gaffa would make it into my heirloom cabinet ;-)
Graeme
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I admire L42 and MK very much without actually being a huge fan of their music. Mark really put the bass into the spotlight in the Uk in the eighties (I remember seeing him on the Tube and the next day everybody in every music store up and down the country seemed to be slapping away on basses!) I could never understand the tape on the thumb thing though, why does he need it? cant recall seeing any other slap style player needing the protection properties of Tape!!!!!
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I'm guessing it's a combination of wear'n'tear and tone. You can buy a slapring (http://www.slapring.de/en/productinfo/slapring/index.php) which enables you to get a much more percussive attack.
Graeme
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Hey Graeme, talking about tone have you checked out Victor wooten on youtube playing norwegian wood? what a tone and what magnificent technique! I feel like giving up after that!!
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that's the only thing about watching other on youtube..it makes you feels depressed becasue we are not that good.
I heard that the tape thing is once he wore the skin off his thumb when he really slapped the s**t out of it at there height of success.
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The story I heard from a level 42 fan was that he split his thumb open during a gig in japan years ago and had to tape up his thumb in order to carry on the gig, and he has worn tape on his thumb since then.
jazzyvee
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He does have a great technique.. must have launched thousands thumbs during the L42 hayday! Apparantly MK was besotted by Alembics from the very beginning and set out to find one. Because of the rarity of Alembics in the UK at the time he had a fruitless search, eventually finding a (heavily influenced by Alembic) Jaydee supernatural and that was that!
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Always have been a fan of his playing, he brought it to the masses when the majority of the audience thought the bass just went 'thump thump'
There is some great footage on youtube
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Mark was a real catalyst thats for sure! Apparantly Stanley Carke was on holiday in spain in the eighties sunning himself on a beach, listening to the radio, when L42 came on a he sat up and said to whoever he was with hey, that guy sounds like me!